For additional information about this interesting and scenic old ranch, right across the street from a residential section, see:
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/Activities/Cultural-Venues/Pages/Bernal-Gulnac-Joice-Ranch.aspx
Upcoming Paintsites:
- We will have two Paintsites on Thursday, February 4th -- one in the North County and one in the South County. Pick which is most convenient in order to avoid projected Super Bowl traffic:
- Thursday, February 4, 2016: North County Paintout: Los Altos Redwood Grove Nature Preserve, Los Altos
- Thursday, February 4, 2016: South County Paintout: Belgatos Park, Los Gatos
- Thursday, February 11, 2016: McClellan Ranch Preserve, Cupertino
- Thursday, February 18, 2016: Palace of Fine Arts and CWA Exhibition, San Francisco
Remember, if the weather looks 'iffy', check your e-mail or the SCVWS website Home Page for cancellation notices. Also, since we often visit sites where mobile service may be absent and the coordinators unreachable or GPS inaccurate -- if attending an unfamiliar location, best check the instructions sent by Paintsites before heading out.
Finally, since you're reading this, you're obviously just wandering around on the Web --- to see more plein air art by SCVWS members, periodically check out the "Members Blogs" as Sylvia, Anna, Mary P. and Dick routinely update their blogs with their latest work.
The Ranch House ... isn't as large or as ornate as some in the area but it does have an old date palm in front --- it seems all old ranches in the Santa Clara Valley have at least one palm tree in the front yard. And it seems like the larger and more prosperous ranches had one on either side of the entry. Perhaps the Bernals, the Gulnacs and the Joices weren't as well to do as they only had one palm. Or at least there's only one now --- but it's a nice one...
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| Anna, left, and Elizabeth. Altho' Anna and Elizabeth are long-time workshop and plein air painting companions, this was Elizabeth's first SCVWS Paintsite. |
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| Elizabeth's almost finished painting of the Ranch House. |
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| Dick and Salinda were able to set up right next to the parking lot for a good view of the west elevation of the Ranch House. |
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| Dick's painting. |
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| Salinda's painting. |
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| Joe |
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| Joe's first painting of the day |
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| Jenny's first painting of the Ranch House. |
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| Jenny (left) and Sylvia - our long-time Paintsites Co-coordinators. |
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| Jenny's painting of the back of the Ranch House. |
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| Brad set up a little farther from the Ranch House so he could include the still dormant oak in front of the building. |
The Old Barn. This building underwent structural and cosmetic renovation several years ago but the exterior thankfully once again looks old and weathered. (Has anyone ever done or even seen a painting of a new barn? I think not - which is why this is such a popular subject.)
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| Helen |
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| Helen's preliminary sketch of the barn with Dan in the foreground. |
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| Helen's finished painting of the barn and Dan. |
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| Dan, his work wrapped up for the day, heading home. |
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| Jane isn't nodding off for a nap here - she's focused on her drawing of the Old Barn .... |
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| ... which resulted in this fine painting of the Old Barn in the background and a corner of a newer barn to the left. That's Dan working on his painting in the foreground. |
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| Kaaren |
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| Kaaren's sketch of the Old and newer (left) barns. |
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| John E. |
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| John's sketchbook |
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| John's painting of the Old Barn. |
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| Rich set up a little closer to the Old Barn for his painting. |
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| Rich's painting of the Old Barn |
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| Joe's second painting - this one of the Old Barn from in front of the new barn opposite from where Rich painted. |
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| Mary set up on the opposite side of the barn at some distance from it in order to get this perspective of the east elevation and the hills beyond .... |
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| Mary's painting of the back side of the Old Barn. |
Buildings -- but not a Barn or an old Ranch House: Artists, when they look hard enough, can find interesting patterns and textures everywhere --- witness these paintings:
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| John T.'s pen & wash painting of some of the outbuildings behind the Ranch House. |
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| Iris set up in the parking lot but looked in the opposite direction from the 19th Century Ranch House towards a late 20th Century "ranch" house on the edge of suburbia which abuts Santa Teresa CP. |
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| Iris' painting of an adjacent modern home. |
Old Farm Equipment: Locally, where there are old ranches and farms, there's always a wealth of rusty equipment --- if we knew what these implements were they probably wouldn't be half as fascinating.
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| Leslie didn't have far to go from the parking lot to find some interesting old wheels and part of a wagon that's certainly seen better days. |
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| Leslie's painting. |
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| Marilyn got up close to the Old Barn --- but she didn't paint it, instead she painted ... |
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| ... this wonderful composition of parts of a rusty plow |
Landscapes. While most of us focused on subjects associated with the old ranch, several of us took advantage of the lovely landscapes just a short distance from the ranch proper.
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| Kaaren's first painting wasn't too far from the ranch, but it was quite a steep climb to this vantage point. |
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| Lisha also went further afield, to the edge of the historical ranch section of the park, to find her perfect spot. |
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| Lisha's painting of the trail heading into the less developed parkland toward the historic Santa Teresa Spring. |
Show and Share 'Critique': I was too busy eating lunch to take any photos of our lunch break but, don't worry, we did have one before our Critique. It had started sprinkling so we leaned our paintings up against the walls and doors of the restrooms. Probably we should have checked to make sure no one was trapped inside before we did that. Next time we will.
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| 'Critiquing' |
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